Soccer fans around the world will rejoice because the next stage of the Champions League begins on February 15^th.

The storied history of the Champions League, previously called the European Cup Winners Cup, spans decades. It is the pinnacle tournament of European soccer. Some of the biggest names in the sport are included in the 2021-2022 knockout stage, which features Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich. The way the group stage is formatted is each tie is played across two legs, one at each team’s home stadium. If there is a draw across the two legs, 30 minutes of extra time will be played. If the score is still level after the extra time, a penalty shoot-out results. All the knockout stages are played with this format, except for the final which is only one game.

To decide who plays who, there must be a draw for the round of 16. The 8 winners of their group will be seeded, and the runners-up of the 8 groups will be unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams and seeded teams will host the second leg. Teams who played each other in the group stages cannot be drawn against each other, and teams from the same domestic league also cannot be drawn against each other. In the draws for the quarterfinals and semifinals, however, teams are not seeded and can be drawn against teams from their domestic leagues.

The draw came this year just like any year, but not without a touch of controversy. During the draw, Manchester United was included in the pot for Villareal’s opponent, despite being in the same group. They subsequently got selected. Then another ball was drawn, this time Manchester City. In the very next draw, Liverpool was included in the pot for Atletico Madrid’s opponent, even though they were in the same group. Manchester United was accidentally excluded from that draw. UEFA, the governing body for the Champions League, eventually voided the draw later that day with the statement, “Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.” The 16 draws that were eventually voided were Benfica vs. Real Madrid, Villareal vs. Manchester City, Atletico Madrid vs. Bayern Munich, Red Bull Salzburg vs. Liverpool, Inter Milan vs. Ajax, Sporting CP vs. Juventus, Chelsea vs. Lille, and Paris Saint Germain vs. Manchester United.

After the draw was declared null and void, it was redrawn at 9:00 a.m. EST on December 13^th, 2021. The new ties are as follows: Red Bull Salzburg vs. Bayern Munich, Sporting CP vs. Manchester City, Benfica vs. Ajax, Chelsea vs. Lille, Atletico Madrid vs. Manchester United, Villareal vs. Juventus, Inter Milan vs. Liverpool, and Paris Saint Germain vs. Real Madrid. The first leg of the round of 16 will take place on either the 15^th, 16^th, 22^nd, or 23^rd of February, depending on the game. The second leg will be played on either the 8^th, 9^th, 15^th, or 16^th, of March. The draw for the quarter finals will take place on March 18^th, 2022, at 12:00 CET. This year’s final will take place at the Krestovsky Stadium in St. Petersburg, Russia, on May 28^th, 2022.

The matches to look forward to the most in the round of 16 include Atletico Madrid vs. Manchester United, Inter Milan vs. Liverpool, and most of all Paris Saint Germain vs. Real Madrid. In the Atletico Madrid vs. Manchester United game, there will be tension in every second of the game. Cristiano Ronaldo has a history against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, after he knocked them out in the 2018-2019 tournament with a hat-trick in the second leg. That isn’t the only tie in which tensions and tempers will be running rampant, however. It will be absolutely palpable in the Paris Saint Germain vs. Real Madrid game.

Recently, there have been rumors that Real Madrid would like to poach PSG star player Kylian Mbappe. The player reportedly wants the move to go through, though PSG are not allowing him to be sold. This game could be an opportunity for Mbappe to show what he’s worth against his potential suitors. There isn’t much history between Inter Milan and Liverpool, but it still ought to be worth watching titans of their respective leagues do battle.

Whatever takes your Champions League fancy, its all in this years knockout stages